Sunday, March 29, 2009

One thing that continues to amaze me is the fact that anti-gay people take concrete scientific reasoning and throw it on the floor.

See, they sneer in derision they are gay! And of course, in their view, this discredits the information. Fact is, if all of these proffesional people were gay, we would be the strongest, most resoursefull minority in the world.

Anyway, this is what the proffessional people actually talk about 'conversion' therapy. Someone went and did for me what I was looking for for some time. The record of what proffesional communities say about 'healing of gay people'.

Missing, of course, is the fact that since 1994, the WHO says we are not ill.

This is the proffesional point of view which is thrown down, trampled on, in the name of faith. This is what you have to contend with to believe that I am sick and need treatment. But of course you can choose not to believe it. Your right? to stupidity!

But it is a matter of fact that quite a number of doctors also do not believe it. Check this article. So, would you rather that I am treated by quacks for your sake?

Damn, I mean, I am not ill. Why do you want me ill? For your sense of ....!

Despite all scientific evidence to the contrary, many religious conservatives insist that gay people can and must become heterosexual, since they think homosexuality is a sinful choice rather than a human variant.

The scientific community, however, resoundingly agrees that sexual orientation cannot be changed, and such "therapies" may in fact be harmful.

The American Medical Association stated, "Most of the emotional disturbance experienced by gay men and lesbians around their sexual identity is ... due more to a sense of alienation in an unaccepting environment. For this reason, aversion therapy ... is no longer recommended."

The AmericanAcademy of Pediatrics warned, "Therapy directed at specifically changing sexual orientation is contraindicated, since it can provoke guilt and anxiety while having little or no potential for achieving changes in orientation."

The American Psychiatric Association went further: "There is no published scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of 'reparative therapy' as a treatment to change one's sexual orientation." And again, "The potential risks of 'reparative therapy' are great, including depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior."

The American Psychological Association agreed: "Medical and mental health professionals also now know that sexual orientation is not a choice and cannot be altered. Groups who try to change the sexual orientation of people through so-called 'conversion therapy' are misguided and run the risk of causing a great deal of psychological harm to those they say they are trying to help."

The "ex-gay ministries" answer these bristling position papers by carefully parsing their definition of success. Rather than sexual orientation transformation resulting in, say, heterosexual marriage, they define success as the ability to resist homosexual urges. Critics see this as temporary suppression of one's sexuality, nothing more.

Also, these groups curiously keep no long-term follow-up records to scientifically validate their success rates, relying only upon anecdotal evidence. That has been problematic, though, as many founders, successive leaders and clients of these organizations have first claimed to be sexually reoriented and then reverted to homosexuality. Such persons often denounce "conversion therapy" as quackery.

But there is evidence that "ex-gay" proponents are becoming even more extremist.

Exodus International, the largest of these groups, was represented by its president, Alan Chambers, and a board member, Don Schmierer, at an anti-gay hate conference in Uganda this month. The conference promoted such human-rights abuses as forced "ex-gay therapy," life imprisonment for people convicted of homosexuality and the creation of an organization designed to "wipe out" homosexuality in Uganda through police action, forced re-education, life imprisonment and vigilantism. The conference also featured one Scott Lively, who blamed both the Holocaust and the 1994 Rwandan genocide on gays.

Neither Exodus International representative spoke up at the conference to protest any of the recommendations, nor did they denounce the Holocaust revisionist.

Another increasingly shrill and extremist proponent is James Dobson, co-founder of Focus on the Family, a conservative religious ministry. Over the years, Dobson has become obsessed with gay people and believes that one can simply "pray away the gay."

But according to "ex-gay" watchdog group Truth Wins Out, "In the past year alone, Dobson has conflated, purposely misconstrued or cherry-picked research from at least six esteemed academic scholars, who have publicly condemned him for misusing their work." In October 2004, he actually told the The Daily Oklahoman, "Homosexuals are not monogamous. They want to destroy the institution of marriage. It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth."

Yikes! Not only are they unscientific, these people are downright scary.

I would especially implore the parents of gay kids everywhere to heed the advice of respected, science-based professionals and avoid exposing your child to the psychologically dangerous "reparative therapies."

Your child may differ from you, but is not broken and does not need repair.

4 comments:

I'm doing some research on various gay rights movements throughout Africa. Would you be willing to answer some questions (anonymously, of course)? You can reach me at rebekah.heacock@gmail.com or via Jackfruity.

*One thing that continues to amaze me is the fact that anti-gay people take concrete scientific reasoning and throw it on the floor.*

Well years ago, the earth was flat, then it was the centre of the universe around which the sun revolved, then illnesses/diseases were caused by curses, germs did not exist, women were considered inferior beings as were black people (lets not even go there) etc... (All of these were stated to be fact by the Church at one time or the other).

My point is that history eventually shows these unscientific notions up as well... rubbish.

In the face of facts and scientific evidence if people want to believe in hysteria, fairytales and biased interpretations- let them be. A wise man once said, don't argue with fools... he had a point.

There was a time that I searched for a 'cure'. Because of what I thought that there was a cure... Needless to say, failed to get it.

But think of it this way. If you are black (that is, your skin colour), would you try to find a cure for your 'blackness'? I hear Michael Jackson has tried to do that. Maybe he has, maybe he hasnt. Would you do like him?

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